Share this with friends:

Hosted by Steve Desmond

$49

Webinar hosted by:
Steve Desmond

Professional Screenwriter

Steve Desmond is a Chicago native, a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and a working screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Last year, he sold his thriller spec screenplay with an Academy Award nominated producer attached to it. The script is now out to directors and is slated to shoot later this year. Steve was also recently hired to write a treatment for a mini-series on infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, being produced Discovery Networks, Giant Pirates, and Trigger Street.
Currently, Steve is writing a new thriller for Davis Entertainment (Chronicle, The Blacklist), inspired by actual events. He is also in post-production on his Twilight Zone-esque short film that he directed, after raising nearly $30K on Kickstarter. His screenplays have appeared on the 2011 and 2013 Hit List, honoring the best spec screenplays of the year, the 2013 Blood List, honoring the best genre screenplays of the year, and he was voted for inclusion on the Young and Hungry Writers List in 2012. Over the years, he’s written or developed projects with Imagine Entertainment, Level 1 Entertainment, Blacklight Transmedia, Preferred Film & TV, The Walt Becker Company, Dreamworks Animation, and (shockingly) The Disney Channel.
Steve is represented by APA, The Gotham Group, and Eclipse Law Firm.
Full Bio »

Webinar Summary

You’re a writer who is struggling with crafting believable dialogue. You’re a director looking for the greater meaning in a scene. You’re an actor trying to connect with what a character is feeling. Subtext is the backbone of emotion in any story, regardless of what genre you’re working in. It also helps to separate great scripts from not so great scripts.

In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, filmmaker Steve Desmond will help you to craft engaging subtext to layer your stories with nuance and emotion. Whether you’re going for laughs, drama, or impending fear, he’ll help you to make your screenplay feel more true to life. For directors or actors working with existing scripts, this webinar will help you to dig deeper below the surface to find the true lifeblood beneath a line. For producers, we’ll discuss tips on how to work with writers to make their subtext come alive.

Whether you’re a writer, a director, an actor, or a producer, subtext is a major part of your game and this webinar will help you add an entirely new layer to your projects.

What You'll Learn

What exactly is subtext? What is on the nose dialogue?

Defining the concepts to set our foundation.

Examining Subtext examples

We’ll study some great films and show how subtext creates character chemistry and memorable moments.

How to get there – It all begins with characters

If you don’t understand who your characters are, you can’t write them.

How beginning with on the nose dialogue is the first step towards adding layers.

The fine art of trimming to find the real meaning hidden within the clutter.

Sometimes not having a character say anything is more powerful than any words.

Writing Exercises

Creating scenarios and giving yourself limitations.

How acting leads to better writing.

Using real life interactions to enhance your writing

Learning to really listen to how you talk with others.

Drawing upon real life memories and examining the subtext behind them.

When to go on the nose

How to make these moments count. And how often to use them.

For Directors & Actors – Finding the subtext within a scene.

Sometimes ‘ordinary’ lines are filled with meaning.

Discovering multiple ways to play a line, a moment, or a scene.

For Producers – Improving subtext within a writer’s script.

Tips (from a writer) on how best to give notes to make a script feel less on the nose.

Case Studies

Live Q & A with Steve!

About Your Instructor

Steve Desmond

Steve Desmond is a Chicago native, a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and a working screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Last year, he sold his thriller spec screenplay with an Academy Award nominated producer attached to it. The script is now out to directors and is slated to shoot later this year. Steve was also recently hired to write a treatment for a mini-series on infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, being produced Discovery Networks, Giant Pirates, and Trigger Street.

Currently, Steve is writing a new thriller for Davis Entertainment (Chronicle, The Blacklist), inspired by actual events. He is also in post-production on his Twilight Zone-esque short film that he directed, after raising nearly $30K on Kickstarter. His screenplays have appeared on the 2011 and 2013 Hit List, honoring the best spec screenplays of the year, the 2013 Blood List, honoring the best genre screenplays of the year, and he was voted for inclusion on the Young and Hungry Writers List in 2012. Over the years, he’s written or developed projects with Imagine Entertainment, Level 1 Entertainment, Blacklight Transmedia, Preferred Film & TV, The Walt Becker Company, Dreamworks Animation, and (shockingly) The Disney Channel.

Steve is represented by APA, The Gotham Group, and Eclipse Law Firm.

FAQs

Q: What is the format of a webinar?A: Stage 32 Next Level Webinars are typically 90-minute broadcasts that take place online using a designated software program from Stage 32.

Q: Do I have to be located in a specific location?A: No, you can participate from the comfort of your own home using your personal computer! If you attend a live online webinar, you will be able to communicate directly with your instructor during the webinar.

Q: What are the system requirements?A: You will need to meet the following system requirements in order to run the webinar software: Windows 7 or later Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later.If you have Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion): The webinar software does not support these operating systems. If you are running one of those operating systems, please upgrade now in order to be able to view a live webinar. Upgrade your Windows computer /Upgrade your Mac computer

Q: What if I cannot attend the live webinar? A: If you attend a live online webinar, you will be able to communicate directly with your instructor during the webinar. If you cannot attend a live webinar and purchase an On-Demand webinar, you will have access to the entire recorded broadcast, including the Q&A.

Q: Will I have access to the webinar afterward to rewatch? A: Yes! After the purchase of a live or On-Demand webinar, you will have on-demand access to the audio recording, which you can view as many times as you'd like for a whole year!

Relevant Tags

Share this with friends:

Questions?

If you have a generic question about Stage 32 education you can take a look at our frequently asked questions section on our help page, or feel free to contact support with any other inquiries you might have.

Reviews Average Rating: 5 out of 5

Other education that may be of interest to you:

Learn directly from Steve Desmond, professional screenwriter who has worked on projects with Davis Entertainment, Imagine Entertainment, Treehouse Pictures, and more!
In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, host Steve Desmond will help you build your suspense from the ground up. Together, you’ll study some of the masters of psychological thrillers, and he’ll share what he’s learned in the trenches from working with other writers, producers, and executives. From the anatomy of a suspense scene, to how to build compelling characters, to how to hook the reader’s attention early, to the power of murder in a story, all the way to crafting a twist ending that no one sees coming, this will be a fully immersive experience that will leave you excited, inspired and ready to tackle your next project.
Steve Desmond is a professional screenwriter represented by APA, The Gotham Group, and Eclipse Law Firm. Recently, Steve sold a thriller screenplay with an Oscar nominated producer attached, and has several other thriller projects in the works with major companies. Steve was also recently hired to write a treatment for a mini-series on infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, being produced Discovery Networks, Giant Pirates, and Trigger Street. Over the years, he’s written or developed projects with Imagine Entertainment, Level 1 Entertainment, Blacklight Transmedia, Preferred Film & TV, The Walt Becker Company, Dreamworks Animation, and (shockingly) The Disney Channel. Steve has repeatedly proved that he knows what it takes to write a great psychological thriller, and he is here to share his knowledge with Stage 32!

Writing is rewriting but that doesn’t just mean dialogue. Scene description is a crucial part of screenwriting, but far too often, it’s not given the attention that it deserves. The reality is, many screenplays are marred by static, wooden scene description. But powerful scene description can help your story to leap off the page and give your screenplay the “pop” it needs. Your scene description is where your writer’s “voice” comes in… And the way you write this prose can make or break your script.
In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, professional screenwriter Steve Desmond will help you to elevate your descriptive writing to a professional level. He’ll help you to develop the tone of your story right on the page, long before it hits the screen. And he’ll dispel myths and go over how not to write scene description. Whether you’re working on an existing script or getting ready to start a new one, this webinar will help you to unleash your potential in prose writing and make the most out of every word in your screenplay.
Your host Steve's latest script, Orb, was recently voted by industry executives as the #1 entry on the annual 2016 BloodList, honoring the top horror/thriller/sci-fi scripts of the year.

Learn directly from Steve Desmond, a filmmaker and screenwriter who completed a successful crowdfunding campaign and nearly doubled his initial raise! Steve has also worked on projects with Imagine Entertainment, Dreamworks Animation, The Disney Chanel, Level 1 Entertainment, Blacklight Transmedia, Preferred Film & TV and The Walt Becker Company!
You have a great idea for a feature film, documentary, or short film. You’re tired of just writing stuff and want to make your dream project into a reality. But you don’t have the money to do it… Yet.
In this exclusive Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, filmmaker and screenwriter Steve Desmond will help you build a killer crowdfunding plan so that you can raise the funds to get your dream project off the ground. Steve recently ran his own campaign to fund his short film on Kickstarter with a goal of raising $16K. He not only hit his goal, but blew by it raising a total of nearly $30K and his film is now in post-production! From his own experience, he’ll teach you how to craft a compelling pitch, build an online audience, and maximize your project’s potential. He’ll also go over the pros and cons of Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other major crowdfunding sites, so that you can pick the one that’s best for you.
From making your pitch video to writing the perfect funding email to marketing your project across all social networks, this will be a one-stop shop for how to successfully crowdfund your film.

Learn directly from Tyler Ruggeri, a screenwriter and former manager with a decade of experience on both sides of the film industry!
Since its inception, Hollywood has made films about or inspired by real people and events. In recent years, the "biopic" has become one of the most prestigious and in-demand genres, and six of the nine 2014 Best Picture nominees are based in reality. Compelling true stories are constantly sought after and frequently top The Black List.
From CAPOTE to MILK to THE SOCIAL NETWORK to LINCOLN to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET to 12 YEARS A SLAVE, we'll discuss what makes fact-based films viable today, and more importantly how to separate yours from the rest of the pack. This involves shaping the facts of your story into a fictional narrative that supports your unique point of view.
We'll also explore the specific steps involved, such as research, story structure, legal issues, and the best way to position your project in a competitive market. While parts of certain films will be mentioned in detail, only a familiarity with the genre is necessary - we won't be studying examples from beginning to end.
This overview will serve as an in-depth primer not just for biopic writers, but for all writers to discover stories that can excite and move today's audiences.

Somewhere between your logline and your full script lies your treatment. Treatments are extremely important sales tools for you as a writer. Access to executives and decision makers is easier than ever these days through The Stage 32 Happy Writers, so what happens when you've peaked the interest of an executive off your logline, but they're not quite ready to read your whole script? You need a comprehensive, well thought out treatment. Whether you’re a writer, producer or a manager/agent, it’s vital to know how to properly put the right elements in a treatment in order to sell your project.
In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, Conrad Sun will share with you some of the effective ways to structure your treatment so that your reader will say “I Want To Read More” and will hopefully lead to the sale of your script. Whether you’re new to the writing game or a long time veteran, your project deserves to make the right first impression, and Stage 32 Next Level Webinars is here to show you how.
Conrad Sun is currently working as a TV Lit Manager and Development Executive at Meridian Artists in Los Angeles and represents TV writers in both the comedy and drama space. Conrad has also worked in content development with companies like Epix, Hasbro Studios, Gran Via Productions (Breaking Bad), New Wave Entertainment and Motion Theory Films.

You can join Daniel Kendrick, Manager and Development Executive at Chatrone (Golden Globe nominated animation feature film The Book of Life, with animated clients for SpongeBob SquarePants, The Lego Movie, Robot Chicken, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as he deconstructs PIXAR's Oscar-nominated script, Inside Out!
As the second highest grossing PIXAR film ever made and Oscar nominee, what makes Inside Out resonate so deeply with audiences across the world? PIXAR, the world’s premiere animation studio, has yet again managed to produce a smash hit that makes everyone laugh and cry all the way from children to grown adults.
Join your host, Daniel Kendrick as he delves deep to deconstruct the Inside Out script as part of the popular Stage 32 Next Level Education "Deconstructing the Script" series! You will learn the storytelling strategies and techniques PIXAR employs to produce hit after hit award-winning animated features. Daniel will go over the methods by which PIXAR tweaks traditional story structure to compose an enthralling character piece. You will understand the plot points and characterization that makes the fictional inhabitants of a mind in this script so appealing and endearing. You will also understand the visual and poetic appeal of Inside Out and its characters’ journeys.
You will walk away with a solid understanding of all the elements that make Inside Out a successful script including: protagonist, plotlines, characters, dialogue & visuals, set ups & pay offs, animation and overall development. To find out more, click the "What You Will Learn" tab above!

What is an "on-demand" webinar?

On-Demand Webinars are recorded versions of the original live webinars.

Live and interactive functionality discussed on the recording does not apply to On-Demand webinars. You will, however, receive all the content from the webinar and be able to access it as many times as you'd like for up to 1 year through the My Education page.